title: Performance of different data sources in identifying adverse drug events in hospitalized patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The incidence of adverse drug events (ADE) is an important parameter in determining the quality of medical care. We identified the probability that a specific data source would identify ADEs in patients on the oncology ward, that could be assigned to one substance.
  
  
  METHODS
  We captured all medical adverse events (AE) from five different data sources. Each AE was determined to be drug-related according to the WHO criteria and classified according to the severity, category, and causality of the ADE.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study recorded 129 patients with 252 hospitalizations over a 5-month period. A total of 3,341 medical events were captured and resulted in 1,121 ADEs. In 122 patients, at least one ADE (95%) was observed. Only 39 hospitalizations were believed not to have an ADE (15%). No ADE was captured by all data sources. The patient record captured 550, the nursing record 569, the laboratory tests 387, the questionnaire 63, and the event monitoring during grand rounds 141 ADEs. Only the nursing record and the laboratory tests had a significantly different probability of observing indicative ADEs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For all AEs reported in the data sources, physicians and nurses were the best source for ADEs. Data sources differed in identifying indicative ADEs and were influenced by specific patient parameters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, University Hospital Zurich, Rämistrasse 100, 8091, Zurich, Switzerland. marco.egbring@usz.ch
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Egbring
authors.forename: Elmira
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Far
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Knuth
authors.forename: Malgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roos
authors.forename: Wilhelm
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kirch
authors.forename: Gerd A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Kullak-Ublick
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016907:Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D008875:Middle Aged; D016522:Oncology Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013557:Switzerland